A unique group is in Southwest Missouri through Sunday to tour area Civil War sites, including Newtonia, Carthage and Wilson Creek near Springfield.
“The Civil War Preservation Trust is holding their annual meeting for their membership,” Wilson Creek National Battlefield historian Connie Langum said. “And when they have these meetings, the whole purpose is to get these folks out to see these battlefields. That is why there are tours.”
This is also unique in the fact that this organization has never held their annual meeting west of the Mississippi. It is usually held on the East Coast or thereabouts.
The CWPT is “America's largest non-profit organization devoted to the preservation of our nation's endangered Civil War battlefields,” according to their mission statement. “The trust also promotes educational programs and heritage tourism initiatives to inform the public of the war’s history and the fundamental conflicts that sparked it.”
The events include history lectures, book shows, panel discussions, an author book signing and color bearer tours.
“Color bearers are those folks that have donated quite a bit of money to the organization,” said Langum. “We are anticipating 300 people coming in. I am impressed with the number of people coming in. It is more than I anticipated. It is a good number, an excellent response.”
Invited speakers include Edwin C. Bearss, David Hinze, Langum, Arnold Schofield, William Shea and Richard Sommers.
On Friday and Saturday, those in attendance will have the opportunity to tour the Civil War sites, they can pick one of following each day. Wilson Creek (either bus tour or hiking tour), the battles of Newtonia and Carthage, Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas, Oklahoma Civil War tour (Friday only) including Cabin Creek and Honey Springs; the Kansas Civil War sites of Fort Scott and Mine Creek (Saturday only), museum and historical homes of Springfield (Friday only) and Missouri (Saturday only).
Those touring Newtonia will have the opportunity to see the Ritchey Mansion, the Old Civil War Cemetery, talk about where the old barn was located at and see the cornfields where the second battle was fought. The first battle at was in 1862 and saw an unprecedented number of Native American units fight on both sides. The second battle in 1864 battle was the last one fought in Missouri, a state that had more Civil War clashes than any other beside Virginia and Tennessee. Approximately 350 soldiers were either killed or wounded in 1862, and 650 casualties were reported in the 1864 battle.
